Welfare drug tests violate amendment

The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.

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poconorecord.com

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Posted Mar. 26, 2013 at 12:01 AM

Posted Mar. 26, 2013 at 12:01 AM

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The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.

Fourth Amendment, U.S. Constitution

Pennsylvania citizens should not lose their Fourth Amendment rights just because they are on welfare.

Yet that's begun to happen. Pennsylvania recently launched a pilot program in one county to randomly drug-test welfare recipients who have had a felony drug conviction within the past five years, and those on probation for a drug felony. If it's proven to be cost-effective, it could go statewide by summer.

Now a state legislator, Rep. Tim Krieger, R-Westmoreland, has drafted legislation that would implement random drug testing for all welfare recipients.

A Florida judge halted that state's random drug-testing for welfare recipients, saying the Sunshine State's attorneys failed to prove that children of families receiving Temporary Aid for Needy Families were more at risk without drug testing. Meanwhile, a New York Times story noted the drug testing program "resulted in no direct savings, snared few drug users and had no effect on the number of applications."

The impetus to drug-test welfare recipients is understandable. People don't like the idea of folks taking assistance, then abusing drugs — thus abusing the taxpayer-funded welfare system. Such proposals are common, too. Some 38 states have drafted or implemented legislation calling for at least some drug testing of certain welfare recipients.

All that aside, the constitutionality of random testing is the key question. Why should poor people, in need of a leg up, not have the same right as other citizens to be safe from unreasonable search and seizure? By the same logic of protecting the taxpayers' money, states would randomly test their own legislators, whose salaries cost taxpayers far more per person than welfare benefits.

Well-meaning legislators should reread the Fourth Amendment. Testing convicted drug users is one thing. It's entirely another thing — and wrong — to cast such a wide net just on the basis of someone's income.